1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an interactive image system, an interactive control device and an operation method thereof, in particular to such interactive image system, interactive control device and operation method wherein the criteria for sampling images by an image module is dynamically adjusted in an idle status so as to save electric power.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional game remote controller, e.g. the “pointer positioning device including a video camera” disclosed in Taiwan Invention Patent No. I267754 which can be applied to a light gun game, a control circuit is provided and connected to a camera, a calculating unit and a communication interface. The communication interface is connected to a host. An optical filter is disposed in front of the camera, and several lighting devices to be photographed by the camera are disposed on a display. When a user uses a pointer device to point to the display whereby a corresponding program is executed by the host, the camera photographs the display and the lighting devices, and since the camera is covered by the optical filter which filters the light with outside the spectrum of the light emitted by the lighting devices, only the light of the lighting devices appears on the images captured by the camera. Then, the images are processed by the calculating unit to obtain a coordinate of the aiming point of the pointer device, and the coordinate is transmitted to the host such that the host can use it to perform corresponding control.
However, for convenience in practical use, the remote controller is usually designed to wirelessly communicate with the host for data transmission, and a battery module is used to supply the remote controller with the required electric power. Because the remote controller has several power consuming devices, it is necessary to reduce the power consumption of the devices as low as possible so as to prolong the lifetime of the battery module. Normally, the camera preferably captures images with a high sampling frequency so as to increase the accuracy of calculation for the calculating unit to calculate the coordinate of the aiming point. However, high image sampling frequency increases the calculation loading of the calculating unit and the total power consumption of the remote controller, and therefore the lifetime of the battery module will be shortened.
Taiwanese Invention Patent Publication No. 200912700 discloses a displacement detection apparatus and a power saving method. The displacement detection apparatus is an optical mouse, comprising a lighting source and an image capturing unit, wherein the image capturing unit captures images formed by projecting light on a surface. The displacement detection apparatus calculates the difference between the positions of a reference object shown in sequential images to obtain a motion vector. When the value of the motion vector is always smaller than a threshold during a predetermined period, the displacement detection apparatus is confirmed to be in an idle status rather than an operation status. If the displacement detection apparatus is in the idle status, it reduces the flash frequency (or light projection frequency) of the light source to save electric power. Similarly, Taiwanese Invention Patent Publication No. 200943131 discloses a displacement detection apparatus and a power saving method. The displacement detection apparatus adjusts the lighting period of the light source according to the value of the displacement of the apparatus between two sequential lighting periods, to reduce power consumption.
Taiwanese Invention Patent No. I338241 discloses an interactive image system, an interactive apparatus and an operation method thereof. The interactive apparatus adaptively adjusts the sampling frequency of the image module to save its total power consumption.
All the above prior art references have the drawback that, regardless whether they reduce the sampling frequency of the image module or reduce the flash frequency of the light source, they all capture an entire frame and process the data of the entire frame. For this reason the power consumption cannot be effectively reduced.
In view of above, the present invention provides an interactive image system, an interactive control device and an operation method wherein the image module of an interactive apparatus dynamically adjusts the criteria for sampling images in an idle status, so as to save electric power.
For reference, the following patents or patent publications disclose contents related to the present application: U.S. Pat. No. 7,839,388; U.S. Pat. No. 7,738,013; U.S. Pat. No. 7,619,669; US 2007/0024587; US 2009/0161026; US 2009/0052730; US 2009/0195505.